In the garment industry, when several garments are to be folded, they are either bulk folded or folded individually. Bulk folding involves folding more than one garment at a time. Although this method is fast and can be accomplished quickly by hand alone, individually folded garments are preferred because they are easy to organize and more attractive. In some cases, as in point of sale displays, individually folded garments are the standard. The individual folding of garments is usually administered in the following ways: a) with the use of fully or semi-automatic machines; b) with the aid of small folding boards; c) with the aid of small apparatuses; d) or by hand alone.
a) Fully and semi-automatic folding machines are available and efficient, but they are too costly for individuals and small to medium size businesses. As a result, most businesses (as well as individuals in the home environment) must resort to folding garments in more inexpensive manners, as will be described in the following.
b) The use of folding boards, which is familiar to those skilled in the art, has an advantage over other folding methods in that it provides an inexpensive way of achieving a higher level of consistency; that is to say, garments folded with the use of a folding board are roughly equivalent in size and shape. When using a folding board, the operator lays the shirt face down on a folding table and then places a small rigid or semi-rigid board on the top portion of the garment. The size of the board is roughly equivalent to the length and the width of the folded garment. The sides of the board are used as fold guides for the longitudinal folds and the bottom of the board is used as a guide for the latitudinal fold. After these folds are administered, the board is removed from within the folded garment. Although this method may offer a slight improvement in consistency, it is tedious--the operator must realign the board to each individual garment. Aligning the board to the same location on each garment is time consuming, and any slight misalignment affects the shape of the folded garment.
c) Mechanical devices also have been developed to ease the process of folding. While these apparatuses may slightly increase consistency, they do not satisfy the primary requirement of speed (this will be further discussed in the following prior art section).
d) The shortcomings associated with the previously listed methods cause many folding operations to resort to hand folding. Although an operator needs no more than a folding surface, hand folding is relatively slow, tedious, and the size of the folded garments is usually inconsistent.